How to dump some one you're not dating...

***Warning...I wrote this yesterday and as I am proof reading before I publish post, I realize it's really not very entertaining. Just a memory I thought was worth writing down.***

I listened some music the other day. Music from a mixed Cd a boy had made me my freshman year of college. I held on to this Cd, not because of the memories attached to this boy, but because it's a pretty decent Cd. Anyway, the music brought back a flood of memories that I thought were perfect for a Flashback Friday.

Travis asked me out my freshman year. Right off, I really had no interest in even a date, but I generally would go on one date when asked. I have always hated turning some one down. It takes a lot of effort to ask someone out. So despite his poor choice in wardrobe, I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had. He had an unusual and refreshing taste in music and he took me on the best dates. We rode the alpine slides, went to a melodrama at the Pickleville Playhouse, out for ethnic food, to hockey games, the planetarium, out to lunch in the middle of the school week, and to this annual competition on the ski slopes that the engineering department puts on where students built remote control robots to ski down the hill. It was fantastic. The list could go on.

But after a few such dates, I realized that though I could overlook (and possibly even change) his poor sense of style, there was no real connection there (to borrow a term from reality TV). We had all kinds of fun. Conversation was always good. Music was always superb. But I could see that this was not meant to be. So I made a decision that if he ever tried to put the moves on...even hold my hand, put his arm around me, I'm talkin' bare minimum...I would let him know that I wasn't interested. So we went on going out at least twice a month for about seven months. I was starting to think he felt the same. Maybe he had just as much fun and needed a friend. After all...seven months and no physical relationship?

Travis was quite a bit older than me. I was just a freshman and he had a real job and was working on his masters. So I finally decided that this was unfair to him. He should not be spending so much time and money on some one who really wasn't interested. But how do you break up with someone you're not really with? It was incredibly awkward. I didn't want to go through the whole thing and have him tell me he wasn't interested to begin with...he was just having fun. Then I would feel like an idiot...assuming that he liked me. And I knew if I went through with it, all the fun would end. We probably wouldn't even be friends.

I finally got the nerve to have the chat. He looked surprised and hurt. He thanked me and left my apartment. But was back the next day to profess his love. He begged for another chance. We went out one more time. But that was the end of it. Spencer and I ran into him and his wife at Disneyland on their honeymoon a couple years later. Disneyland WOULD NOT have been a satisfactory honeymoon for me. So all turned out well.

Not really that great of a story. I was a poor journal keeper at that point in my life and I always feel the need to write things down. I have a horrible fear of loosing my memories. But for a bit of entertainment, the most embarrassing date I went on was with him.

We went out for lunch at a Chinese place one day. I was trying to use my spoon to cut a piece of won ton in my won ton soup. The whole won ton was too big for one bite and who politely uses a knife and fork in their soup bowl? A spoon was my only option. As I trapped the won ton between my spoon and the bowl and applied pressure, I tipped the entire bowl of won ton soup on my lap. I had a skirt on and when I stood, it looked like I wet myself. We ate a really long lunch in hopes my skirt would dry a little before I had to stand and walk out. Then I awkwardly carried my purse in front of me on the way to the car.